I made a mistake the last time I mentioned the ED’s for this show, for some reason I thought they were sung by different artists… how embarrassing! Even though (some of) the original versions of these songs are from artists from different artists decades ago all the ED’s in the show are covers by the VA for Takagi-san. Can’t believe I didn’t realise this earlier… Not my favourite song, it’s sweet and cute but kinda boring.

#79 Teardrops by Poppin’ Party, Character song from BanG Dream!

BanG Dream (and by extension the main band Poppin’ Party!) are the second coming of K-On!’s ‘Afternoon Tea Time’–at least if this rockin’ song is anything to go by! Not much else to say, it’s just a great tune!

#78 Hana wa Odore ya Irohanih by Team “Hanayamata”, OP of Hanayamata

This show has been on my to-watch list for ages (of course it has: cute girls, slice of life, etc.) and yes this is a very sweet-sounding song, it’s very good… it’s just I wonder if there aren’t better songs that could have been on this list? [Edit: the second half of the full-song is really good, makes me wonder which part of it they used for the OP, hguess I’ll have to watch it and find out!]

#77 Koi ni Naritai AQUARIUM by Aqours from Love Live! Sunshine!!

I’ll always have an immediate dislike for Aquors as a band because for some reason they choose to pronounce their band name as ‘Aqua’ and there’s already a fantastic band called ‘Aqua’! Ahem… with that rant over, ugh… I don’t like this song at all… it just feels so ‘try hard’ to be “cute” and “fun” and “happy”–it literally does nothing for me at all. Come at me Love Live Sunshine fans!

#76 Sousei no Aquarion by AKINO from bless4, OP1 of Sousei no Aquarion

A 2011 anime! Try not to get too annoyed as I’m constantly surprised by older anime songs appearing in this list–I just assumed it’d all be new stuff. I’ve never watched the show but funnily enough I almost immediately recognised it as it’s a part of a massive compilation of anime music I have on my iTunes. And with good reason! It’s a catchy and interesting sounding song!

#75 fantastic dreamer by Machico, OP of Konosuba!

*excited flailing Muppet arms* Yay, Konosuba! Did I mention I love this show? I think I may have… anyway a great song from a great anime that had so many memories flooding back… I need to watch Konosuba again…

#74 -HEROIC ADVENT- by Roselia, ED of Cardfight!! Vanguard G: Z

I had to look up to see if this was the same Roselia that features as a side band in the BanG Dream! Girls Band Party mobile game (and who appear many times on this list) and yup, apparently so! I’m sure there’s some sort of cross-promotional synergy that made this happen and whatever, I’m all for it, Roselia is the best thing about BanG Dream! Girls Band Party so the more the better–that said this song is mixed very loud in favour of the music. Good thing it’s great music in fact the latter half of the song sounds a lot like ‘Metal Resistance’ by Babymetal, anyone else here that?

#73 B.O.F by Poppin’ Party from the BanG Dream! Girls Band Party game

(I picked the live version because Poppin’ Party is just so cool live–that keyboardist *swoon*). Not the best Poppin’ Party song out there, but still a lot of fun!

#72 Diver’s High by SKY-HI, OP of Gundam Build Divers

It’s Gundam meaning my eyes have glazed over in boredom, but this songs is so damn cool and unique!

#71 Tomoshibi no Manimani by Nao Touyama, OP of Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi

I’m still watching this anime and I’m still kind of ambivalent on it, but holy heck do I love this OP! Hard to believe such a beautiful voice comes from the VA from the very monotone Rin from Laid Back Camp! Just goes to show Nao Touyama’s range! This song should be higher on the list, it’s utterly sublime!

#70 Zettai Reido θ Novatic by Walkure, OP2 of Macross Delta

This is the third(?) a song from this show has appeared on the list and man is the starting to this song iconic! Talk about a song that’s transcended the show it’s from! But it’s not just the start, the rest of the song is no slouch, absolutely understandable that this song is still getting play after all these years… I might have to watch this show if it has such consistent bangers throughout!

What I know about the Cardcaptor series could fit on a post-it note, but it’s a beloved series right? And I know this is from the new series that’s aired this year? And, uhh… I’m running out of things to say because I’m padding for time because I can sum up this song in one word. “Yawn”.

#68 GO CRY GO by OxT, OP of Overlord II

As I was listening to this I was like surely this should have featured on my Worst OP’s of Winter 2018 list, but nope! I must have been feeling generous when I did that list because right now, ugh, it’s just a messy and disappointing song! Next!

#67 DETERMINATION SYMPHONY by Roselia, from the BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! game

The more this list (or whatever it is I’m calling this blog post) goes along the more I realise I’m ~incredibly~ biased in my opinions. But then again I just know what I like and I know I adore Roselia. Another rock solid banger!

#66 Michishirube by Minori Chihara, ED1 of Violet Evergarden

Sometimes you hear a vocalist and you’re just like, “Nope! No thank you!” that’s about the summation of my feelings on this song! I know, I’m such an insightful and intellectual commentator, aren’t you glad you’re wasting your life reading these barely coherent ramblings?!

#65 You by May’n, OP2 of Mahoutsukai no Yome

Anyone else getting a heaping feeling of ‘generic’ from this OP? No? Just me? I mean it’s fine as a song, I just couldn’t imagine listening to this more than a couple of times in my life let alone as an OP for however many episodes and moreso on a streaming service so repeatedly that it gets to #65! I’ll shut-up now.

The Winter 2018 anime season had alot of really top quality OP’s, even one’s I failed to mention in my best of list. Hard to deny how great of a track this is even if it kind of trails off into nowhere by the end…

#63 Clattanoia by OxT, OP of Overlord

It’s a “good” song, that much I’m sure of. But please, for the love of god ease up on the autotune, because it almost sinks the song completely… almost, it’s still pretty fun!

#62 STEP by STEP UP↑↑↑↑ by fourfolium, OP of New Game!!

Ahhh, it’s like slipping into a warm bath on a cold day after a hard day at work. God I adore this show and everything about it, especially the second season from which this song is the OP. This is the superior New Game OP, I’m only saying this out-loud because I have a feeling I’ll need to refer back to this opinion sometime soon…

#61 Sparkling Daydream by ZAQ, OP of Chuunibyou demo Koi ha Shitai!

I’ve heard about this show for a long time but this OP doesn’t do much to sell me on the show. It’s good, but nothing special. The chorus is fun though!

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And that’s part 2 done, can you believe I’m still rambling on about this?! Yeah, so can I… it’s almost like I have a problem that can only be solved with.. more anime music! Continued in part 3!

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Hanayamata’s opening is one of those that the animation (which is based on the dance they do in the show… but then they recycle the shots from the OP into the big dance, which was disappointing) really carries the OP of the show. I really like the song, because it’s got some great bass work, and you can’t hear it without thinking about their yosakoi dance.

Koi ni naritai Aquarium is actually one of my favorite Aquors songs, but it’s a mess, with like seven different musical themes thrown in. And I certainly wouldn’t go around admitting that the band Aqua was “fantastic”…

Poppin’ Party is interesting to me mostly because I like women rock bands (I just love Silent Siren so much), and because they were like “sure we’ll make a band instead of an idol unit”. B.O.F. is not my favorite of theirs, tho.

#70 you’ve got a cover version of Zettai Reido Novatic. The real version’s opening is even better than that. The sliding harmonies that Walkure does are one of my favorite parts of their songs (Walkure ga tomaranai is just jaw dropping, and I’m sure that will show up farther along the list). And it’s funny that it shows up right after you praise Nao Touyama, since she’s in Walkure also. 🙂

Minori Chihara is an acquired taste. The Violet Evergarden ED is one of her more nasal songs, but I like her style. If you watch the Haruhi movie (the best Haruhi thing there is, even if it’s heartbreaking), the ED is beautiful. And if you want a song she rocks out on, the Rail Wars OP (which I can’t imagine would show up on this list) is great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWmj6E3jhHY But like nano.RIPE, you’ll run into Minori Chihara’s songs a bunch if you watch anime.

May’n is a great singer who’s done a lot a couple great songs and a lot of really forgettable songs. The first OP for Ancient Magus’ Bride was a lot better, by Junna, and was used throughout the series as incidental music as well. I think this 2nd OP just kinda tags along on that popularity.

I’ll have to disagree on Step by Step UP being better than Sakura Skip, which has so much more energy and flow.

People like the Chuu2Koi OP because of the video part at the chorus. That’s pretty much it. And the OP had a bit of controversy because the first version (the one you linked) was kind of seizure inducing. They changed it a few episodes in so that the cuts didn’t alternate sides of the screen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRNhN8et8WE).

So it’s a shame you’re wrong a couple times in this version, but bring on more of the list!